Everything Is Perfect When You're A Liar

Kelly Oxford, the famed internet personality--named one of Rolling Stone's Funniest People on Twitter and creator of the viral #notokay for women to share their stories of sexual assault--turns her laser-like wit to anxiety, parenthood (or "the sheer insanity of being in charge of the safety and livelihood of three people besides myself"), popular culture, and more in this razor-sharp essay collection.

The Edmonton native and bestselling author of Everything Is Perfect When You're a Liar has won legions of fans with her comedic skill, down-to-earth voice, and bull's-eye observations on the absurdity of modern life, in the way that has made Chelsea Handler, David Sedaris, Dave Barry, Patton Oswalt, and Rick Mercer so enormously popular. For example:

"Congratulations America, I finally get a green card & now I may have to move back to Canada. Trump in the final two for President. Surreal."

"Dear Parents of pre-teen boys, Tell them they'll get ED by 18 if they watch Internet porn then buy them some porno mags. Thank You, Women"

"I'm not going to have a coffee this morning with the intent of blaming all my screw-ups on the missed coffee."

"1 good piece of news today: 7yo told me there is a secret war going on between muffins and cupcakes & I haven't stopped thinking about it."

Dishing about her kids, moving from Alberta to Los Angeles (and what she really thinks about life in LA), her marriage, and how she copes (or not) with anxiety and depression, When You Find Out the World Is Against You is Kelly at her honest and most disarmingly funny best. Filled with biting, wise, and laugh-out-loud insights, this vastly entertaining collection of vignettes will make you think as much as it will make you laugh.

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An earlier comment called it 'smarmy' and that does fit. This writing reminded me of the Carrie Fishers style which I could not stand either; very "run-on-conversational-trying hard to be clever" and yes, exhausting. Is some of it worth a chuckle- yes. She does have something, but I always dislike it when they have to 'spike' it up with foul language for the sake of it; gratuitous swearing does not work on me. Needless to say I did not get too far into this book.

An collection of autobiographical events that are enjoyable because they're relatable, even to a guy (me). What's nice is how she doesn't gloss over events with polished prose. Instead, she tells the hard, if often humourous and sometimes incredulous truth about 'what happened' in plain-spoken English. A lot of what makes Ms. Oxford's book so enjoyable to read are the moments I got to say (to myself) "Ah-hah! Yes, I understand where you're coming from." None of her stories are heart-wrenching traumas either, which was nice. Finally, on a slightly more personal note, I was blown away to find out Ms. Oxford hails from Edmonton, Alberta (not all of her stories take place there, however), the same city I spent my first 28 years in too. Bringing stories that much closer to home was, for me, an added bonus.

I took this book out because of its title. It was too good to pass up. It isn't clear when and where all of Ms. Oxford's "lies" are. That it's a confessed liar relating these tales makes them all a little more suspect. But to me that enhanced the experience more than took away from it.

My only detraction is how text is sometimes in all-caps to emphasize a point. It's used too often and not always to good effect.

What's with the epidemic of awkwardly titled autobiographies? To wit: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns). Me Talk Pretty One Day. Man Up (Tales of my Delusional Self-Confidence). And now, Everything is Perfect When You're a Liar. Perhaps these are examples of a new genre, the deliberately clumsy hipster autobiog.

I feel uncharitable, even disloyal, when I dis a woman who has struggled to make it in a male-dominated world. Nevertheless, the adjective that comes to mind for Kelly Oxford's general tone is "smarmy". Oxford has the oily eloquence of an ingratiating candidate for head girl. I can put no more faith in the sincerity of her expressed opinions than I can in a seasoned politician's resolve to put principle before popularity.

After getting half-way through Oxford's book, I put it down to read Jenny Lawson's Let's Pretend This Never Happened (just to add to the string of clunky titles). I am usually faintly uneasy when I leave an adequate book half-read, but I'm not certain that I'll bother to get back to Oxford's. It just doesn't have that reckless je ne sais quoi that I expect from the lips of a comedian.

I should have heeded the negative comment on this feed. I got through a few chapters and then had to return it...just couldn't waste my time. The author tries way too hard to deliver quick witted comments and it's simply exhausting. And not funny. I really wanted to like it, but it just didn't deliver.

The most boring book I've read in a long time. I feel like she owes me at least 4 hours of my life back that I could have spent reading something other than tidbits about her suburban, soccer mom life. Plus, I don't like the fact that she is so flippant about rape, drug use, and the plight of the institutionalized elderly. I totally lost any respect I may have had for her. Sorry, Kelly. I don't believe you did even half of what you wrote about when right off the bat you call yourself a liar. Do yourself a favour and pick up "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls for a real and fascinating memoir. Now there's a good read.

I really enjoyed this book. I love getting insight involving relationships and about people around me that are so different from my own perceptions. I generally thought of sociopaths in their extreme cases such as serial killers. This book explains that there are many sociopaths among us, that are generally functioning quite well in our society. Many of them have learned to fit in and contribute to society in a positive way. This book really made me contemplate just what we view as being normal and if there even is such a thing as normal. Since sociopaths are by nature terrific avid liars, maybe the content of this book cannot be trusted. Nevertheless, it was mind-blowing and humorous and definitely a great read. I will give the author the benefit of the doubt as it does explain the behaviour of some of the people I have known.